General Staff Branch Insignia

Introducing project “Military Insignia”, featuring top quality military heraldry designs. Here you will find designer apparel, accessories, custom postage and gifts decorated with insignia of the General Staff branch. A military staff, often referred to as General Staff, Army Staff, Navy Staff or Air Staff within the individual services, is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units. A staff also provides an executive function which filters information needed by the commander, or shunts unnecessary information to a more appropriate tasker, handling the matter which would be an unnecessary distraction for the Commanding Officer at a more appropriate level. On February 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed “An Act to Increase the efficiency of the Army” and four days later the Headquarters of the Army published it as General Orders Number 15. The brief act did five things. First Congress established a General Staff Corps. Second it defined the General Staff Corps duties. Third it severely limited the composition of the Corps from the Chief of Staff down to 20 captains or first lieutenants on a four-year detail. Next it provided that the Chief of Staff would supervise the various staff departments enumerated and lastly the act made the recently created Chief of Artillery an additional member of the General Staff. On 17 June 1904, the Chief of Staff of the Army, Lieutenant General Chaffee, approved the design of the General Staff insignia to take effect 1 July 1904. The device has been in continual use since that date. The insignia was originally worn only by officers, in the grade of captain and above, detailed to the General Staff Corps. Authority for its wear was later extended to officers detailed to General Staff Corps with troops. At the time the Department of the Army was established as the legal successor to the War Department, the word "Corps" in the title of branch officers detailed to the General Staff Corps was dropped. The device is now worn by officers detailed in orders to the Army General Staff and to General Staff with troops. The star is symbolic of the highest level in the Army, and the Arms of the United States allude to the mission of the General Staff which is the exercise General Staff supervision over the management of the land forces of the United States.